White House quietly admits Obama regulations worked

The report was released late on a Friday, with Congress out of session and multiple Trump scandals dominating the headlines. A cynical observer might conclude that the administration wanted the report to go unnoticed.

Why might that be? Well, in a nutshell, it shows that the GOP is wrong about regulations as a general matter and wrong about Obama’s regulations specifically. Those regulations had benefits far in excess of their costs, and they had no discernible effect on jobs or economic growth.

OMB gathered data and analysis on “major” federal regulations (those with $100 million or more in economic impact) between 2006 and 2016, a period that includes all of Obama’s administration, stopping just short of Trump’s. The final tally, reported in 2001 dollars:•Aggregate benefits: $219 to $695 billion•Aggregate costs: $59 to $88 billion

By even the most conservative estimate, the benefits of Obama’s regulations wildly outweighed the costs.

According to OMB — and to the federal agencies upon whose data OMB mostly relied — the core of the Trumpian case against Obama regulations, arguably the organizing principle of Trump’s administration, is false.

Its a simple concept that Republicans I am sure understand but pretend they don't; a regulation may be there for a reason. You can not take the stand that "all regulations are bad" or remove a regulation without doing some cost-benefit analysis.

Re: White House quietly admits Obama regulations worked

I had a feeling our forum conservatives would be reluctant to address this thread. Or read the OMB report. When data contradicts the sacred dogmas of the Right's playbook, it's safer to pretend it's not there.

Re: White House quietly admits Obama regulations worked

Actually, I read it all and was disgusted by the findings, but not because it is a conservative trait, but because it is a greedy pig trait. I never knew how I would fit into the US political spectrum, and never had reason to care. But with the US political lines being drawn firmly in the concrete by some, and in the dust fuzzies by others, I have come to learn I have r-leanings.

I would hope I would spend the $$ to protect workers, rather than save the money now, passing the larger health bill to the public health care purse down the road. So, no, no sacred dogma here.

Re: White House quietly admits Obama regulations worked

Ahh. Thanks. Yes, sometimes the GOP here and the Right are strongly associated. More so, I would say, than back in the days of, say, Pres. Eisenhower. Back then, we had more liberal Republicans. There are still fairly moderate Republicans, Democrats who lean conservative on some issues, and Libertarians/Independents who are far Right on some economic issues while being Left on others. It keeps things interesting.

It's funny how the geography shifts. The Pro-Life movement, some decades ago, was actually on the Left, something that many now find hard to believe. Leftists, in the 50s and into the 60s, felt that their human rights positions should logically be extended to the unborn. Benefit of the metaphysical doubt and all that. There were prominent Leftist Catholics back then, more so than now. In a way, it hurt the Democrats that they lost the pro-Lifers, as there were many single-issue voters who went over to the Republicans when their Right wing took over that issue.

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But back to the OP, it is really despicable that board rooms would be fighting regulations at the highest levels, where it is obviously doing good, for the workers health and for the environment in general. Clean coal?? What an idiot.

Re: White House quietly admits Obama regulations worked

From my observation too I can't really see Watson being right/republican/red/conservative.

I don't believe in those labels though. Only recently has it gotten extreme enough to go with the labels. It's like people stopped having a brain and just go with the definition of their party or party leader.

At the moment all I see is Right = 110% science ignorance, profit hungry, environmentally destructive, short term thinking policy while Left = going to the extreme opposite with conservation (not to be confused with conservative), people first views just to balance out the extreme right.